Maryland House speaker urges support for more school funding

She is asking the 50-member caucus to make a funding plan to implement a state commission’s recommendations the No. 1 priority for the next legislative session

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) – Maryland’s House speaker is urging her colleagues in the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland to make a robust education funding plan its top priority.

Speaker Adrienne Jones spoke Saturday at the caucus’s unity breakfast.

She is asking the 50-member caucus to make a funding plan to implement a state commission’s recommendations the No. 1 priority for the next legislative session, or however long it takes.

Jones, a Democrat, also is asking the caucus to put its weight behind the passage of a bill to add $2 billion in additional school construction over the next decade.

The General Assembly approved initial funding this year to begin implementing the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations. Full implementation has been estimated to cost about $3.8 billion a year in a decade for K-12 education.